The world’s dwindling panda population is getting a helping hand from a wireless internet network, reports the BBC, Computer Weekly and the Portland Oregonian.
A WiFi network is being installed in China to monitor pandas’ daily activities, reports the BBC. The Wolong Nature Reserve in the Sichuan Province of southwest China is home to 20% of the remaining 1,500 giant pandas in the world. The data and images can be shared with colleagues around the world.
Using the network, vets have been able to observe how infant pandas feed and suggest changes to improve the tiny cubs’ chances of survival says the BBC report. The network has been developed by Intel, working closely with the staff at Wolong. It includes a 802.11b wireless network and a video monitoring system using five cameras to observe pandas around the clock.
Schools in Oregon are linking up. A children’s learning lab has been incorporated in the network, in collaboration with Globio (Federation for Global Biodiversity Education for Children), an international non-profit organisation. It will enable children at local primary schools to hook up with their peers in Portland, Oregon in the US. Intel donated 10 computers to Southeast Portland’s Woodstock Elementary School, where 140 of 350 students are enrolled in a Chinese language immersion program.
“Digital technology brings this story to life by enabling a global dialogue to help bridge cultures around the world,” said Globio founder Gerry Ellis.
I don’t understand why wireless cameras are not a fixture in EVERY zoo and wildlife park.
The Wildlife Safari, in Winston, Oregon, off Interstate 5, a case in point.
Perhaps a wireless camera and sensor network could provide real information and make some money.
A solar-powered 1.2 megapixel Toshiba Netcam ($600) (demo), inside the bush might be bridged to traveling cars, some 1/2 mile away. Each Sputnik $99 access point could have an individual spash page with information on the animals and a user-controlled camera. Netgear’s Extended Range AP and Netgear’s Xtended range USB adapter might provide extended range providing touchscreen access from inside your car. Let’s see; $600 for the camera and $200 for the Wireless AP and client. Put twenty cameras around the park ($20K) and provide a touch-screen tablets ($20 for 2 hours).
Capture photos via the webtablet and print at Wildlife Safari (for a buck a pop). Does it pencil out? Beats me.
Microradio Sound Walk consists of multiple transmission stations situated along a loosely defined route starting at New York’s City Hall Park and branching out throughout the immediate neighborhood. Listeners proceed through the route in the order of their choosing, as they move farther away from one station and grow closer to the next the signal they receive will fall in and out. Listeners worldwide will also be able to tune in the City Hall Park airwaves on free103point9 Online Radio.
The DailyWireless article, Mount St Helens Wireless Sensor Networks, reviews a dozen wireless camera ideas as well as the current state of the mountain.
Alex Chadwick had a wonderful radio adventure simply by attaching contact mikes on plants. Listening to leafhoppers. It was a revelation…right in his own backyard. Part One and Part Two.
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